1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resource allocator for allocating a predetermined number of hardware resources from among a plurality of hardware resource types within a communication system.
2. Description of Related Art
When designing a system to support a predetermined number of total users of more than one type, wherein different hardware is required for at least one type of user and the system can support at most a specific number of users of a first type and a remaining number of users of other types. One solution to the problem is to require the system to support the same number of users of each type. However, this is a costly alternative because separate hardware needs to be used for each type of user.
For example, in a system which can support eight type 1 users, which require type 1 hardware, and twelve type 2 users, which require type 2 hardware, and a total number of 12 users, hardware could be provided to support twelve users of both types 1 and 2. This solution requires twelve of type 1 hardware and twelve of type 2 hardware, or a total of twenty-four units of hardware. However, this is somewhat wasteful because there will always be at least four type 1 users that cannot be supported.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hardware and software based solution to the above-mentioned problem which is more efficient, cost effective and shields software from the mapping details.
In order to achieve this, the present invention allows up to a given number of total users, for example, 12, wherein up to eight users require, for example RSOLD type hardware, and a remaining number of users require, for example, RSNEW type hardware. This is accomplished by mapping, for example, twelve shared resources into, for example, twelve fixed resources via two tables, one table having twelve entries, corresponding to a maximum number of total users, and another table having eight entries, corresponding to the eight units of RSOLD type hardware.